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Synergistic Red Fuse ...

I installed a SR RED Quantum fuse in my ARC REF-3 preamp a few days ago, replacing an older high end fuse. Uhh ... for a hundred bucks, this little baby is well worth the cost. There was an immediate improvement upon installation, but now that its broken in (yes, no kidding), its quite remarkable. A tightening of the focus, a more solid image, and most important of all for my tastes, a deeper appreciation for the organic sound of the instruments. Damn! ... cellos sound great! Much improved attack on pianos. More humanistic on vocals. Bowed bass goes down forever. Next move? .... I'm doing the entire system with these fuses. One at a time though just to gauge the improvement in each piece of equipment. The REF-75se comes next. I'll report the results as the progression takes place. Stay tuned ...

Any comments from anyone else who has tried these fuses?
128x128oregonpapa
knghifi
1,668 posts
 
Maybe lesson learned is Slo-Blo has larger tolerance so safer to roll than a Fast-Blo unless one is willing to roll the dice.

Another thought is audiophile fuses is anything not from the manufacturer.   A Bussmann is definitely a safer bet than one from Ace Hardware with unknown origin.  In Audiophile world, both are non audiophile fuses.
almarg's avatar
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almarg
9,670 posts
 
Jon, if you choose to pursue Electroslacker's suggestion, you can order the Littelfuse fuses I referred to from the industrial electronics distributor Digikey, via this link.  As you'll see in the listing, though, only the 0.0166 and 0.04 amps squared-seconds fuses are stocked.  The intermediate value fuses (0.024 and 0.032) and also the 0.042 fuse are special order.

I believe that Digikey doesn't impose any minimum dollar requirement for an order, and as you can see in the listing all of the fuses other than the 0.042 (which isn't necessary, if you get the 0.04 fuse) can be ordered in quantities as small as 1.

I also checked distributors Newark Electronics and Mouser Electronics, but they too don't stock the intermediate values, at least for fuses made by Littelfuse.

Regards,
-- Al

lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57
5,417 posts
 
It seems to me that there is always a risk when using an audiophile fast blow fuse in an amplifier, since the "nominal melting point" is unknown (compared to major fuse manufacturers who publish their specs).

With amps that use a slow blow fuse, the very nature of said fuse allows for a brief period of over-current. It seems like less risk to use an audiophile fuse with unknown specs. Provided that the fuse being used has the correct rating specified by the manufacturer.

@audiolabyrinth, IYE, were the SR fuses that blew prematurely fast blow fuses or were there reports of all SR fuses blowing?
oregonpapa's avatar
oregonpapa OP
4,867 posts
 
joncourage ...

Contact SR. They will see that the dealer from whom you bought your fuses will refund your money. You won't be out any cash. But please, once its been resolved to your satisfaction, come back here and post the positive results.

The SR fuses have been a genuine boon for the vast majority of us who have converted over to them. It would be a shame if one experience from a customer with a non compliant amp would dissuade anyone else from trying them. In this entire thread, there have been two who felt they didn't make an improvement in their Maggies ... and one failure in an Ayre AX-5 amp. Everyone else is raving about them. 

And by the way, Diana Krall was sitting in my lap tonight asking me to peel her a grape. :-)
audiolabyrinth's avatar
audiolabyrinth
4,555 posts
 
Lowrider57,  I'm not sure which type was blowing,  fast or slow, I  highly recommend going .1,  .2, .3, no higher than  .25 over stock fuse value, , these slightly higher values are in my opinion within range of protecting the given equipment that the fuses reside within,  most anomalies that could happen will be far greater than these slightly higher fuse values,  so, in general,  your equipment investment's will be fully protected in my opinion. 
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